Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire
by Nilinara
Summary: I have never loved bugs, but I have never hated them or feared them either. However, from the day those dreams became my reality they have been my constant companions. Self-Insert
1. Chapter 1: The Begining of a Dream

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Dream**

I don't really remember exactly when it all started. My only guess is that it was some kind of self-insert. Of all the self-inserts I have read, they always seemed to begin with being reborn/reincarnated, or in a few cases switching places with a character, or somehow being sucked through some kind of portal.

So many fics, and I still had no idée where my own experience fit into it all. When all was said and done, it could only be dreams, most likely caused by reading too many of those fics.

As I said it started with dreams, though, I don't really remember when it started. I know for a fact, that the first dream was about being reborn, and that was only because it was so weird. Not weird in the way ordinary dreams are (I have had my fair share of those as well), but how can you dream up being born, with so many vivid details, when you have no actual memories of a real birth is beyond me.

After that first one they kept coming, and every time I went to sleep, I would have new one. The thing that made them strange was that they did not come at random, but in a chronological order. All in all, it was like living a double life. Pfft... a double life as a newborn and a university student.

It was nothing exciting really, the 'dreams' (if they really where dreams) of being a newborn where blurry and boring so I pretty much ignored them and continued with my ordinary life as a college student. I studied to be a teacher in geography, if you're interested.

My name when I was 'awake' was Erika Ek, but in my dreams, I went by the name Shirushi. The same day I woke up from learning this, I searched the meanings of Japanese names on the internet (Shirushi sounded Japanese to me), and what I found showed that Shirushi stood for proof, or something like that, who knows how reliable the source was. Too bad no matter what I did I seemed unable to control 'my' body in the dreams in the beginning, which made said dreams even more boring, even if I somehow learned to speak Japanese fluently (and wasn't that a weird experience).

Years flew by, and when the time came that I had finally finished my university studies (around four-five years later), I began trying to find my first job. It was at that time that I had learned a lot of things about my life in the dreams.

The first one was that my full name was Shirushi Aburame, and as the surname suggested to those into manga/anime, I was now a member of a bug using ninja clan. My parents in my 'ninja' life had even had me start on chakra control exercises, as they were essential for being able to use the bugs. After all it would be pretty pathetic for an Aburame to die of chakra exhaustion because your own bugs eat the last of your chakra.

I did not have my hive just yet, I was still developing the 'ability' of my body so I could house them in the future, and I would soon bet my hive in a month or two.

Another thing I learned was that I had an older brother, and no it was not Shino.

**AN: Here is the beta version of chapter 1 finally.**

**Beta: Shadowwhat**


	2. Chapter 2: My Brother, I and the Snake

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 2: My brother, I and the starring snake**

"Nii-san!"

I wasn't really shouting, the bugs don't enjoy such loud sounds, but it was a close thing.

My brother apparently heard me anyway because he entered my room just a few minutes later. I was four at this time and finally, FINALLY I could control this 'dream' body as well as I could my real one, and I would not let it go to waste.

With the best smile I could manage in this young form (smiling did not come natural to any Aburame sadly), I held my arms up, begging for my brother to lift me up. He was fourteen years older than me (I don't know why there was such a large age gap, but oh well), so it wasn't as if he was too young to carry me around.

My brother hesitated for a while before he picked me up; he had no experience with children so he always seemed nervous around me. Lucky for him I was not your average baby, so if he screwed up badly sometimes, at least I could give him a little bit of experience for when he gets a kid of his own, eventually.

As soon as he picked me up, I put my arms around his neck and put my head on his shoulder. I could hear his hive buzzing around, which was surprisingly calming.

"Nii-san, can you go with me to the park please?"

I made no further attempt beyond that simple question, since I knew it wouldn't work. Puppey eyes and other similar techniques did not work on him.

"Let's go then imōto."

That simple sentence was all I needed to hear, and I knew I had him wrapped around my finger. Even at the age of fourteen, he was far to stoic, hopefully he would loosen up in the future or like most ninja, and the Aburame clan, just become eccentric.

My brother carried me to the edge of the compound, before putting me down and gesturing for me to follow him. It was just like him to not want to be seen carrying his little sister around the village.

I followed him closely anyway; the entire walk was pretty uneventful. Both of us were silent, but it wasn't uncomfortable, my brother seemed to always know when I wanted to think about things and he let me do it without interruption.

One of the things I usually think about, the most important one, was the timeline, the one found in the Naruto universe.

According to the source I found on the ever wonderful internet (even if it was Wikipedia), I had two wars, one invasion, and an attack from the Nine Tails to look forward to. The only consoling thing about that was that the first said war (The Third Shinobi War), would end by the time I was eleven.

I would enter the Academy next year and from there it was seven years until the Nine Tails attack, so maybe I would be lucky enough to have a mission out of the village by then. It all depended on how much of an impact the current war would have on my soon to come ninja career.

Well, things always seem to end up wrong when I plan out my own course of action for the future, the few times it didn't was when I had only planed for the day. Even then I had a hard time sticking to it; more often than not, I needed someone to figuratively push me to do something (even parties, my best friend would make sure I'd go). Especially for my time at school and the time spent at my workplace (which also is a school), I mostly went there because of my sense of duty.

Exactly like in those cases, I would become a ninja because of my sense of duty to the clan. If I had been born in a civilian family, I would've probably stayed a civilian (even if I would regret it later) just because I was a bit lazy if given the chance.

Maybe, in the future, I could spend some time cloud gazing with Shikamaru, which would be…

Before I could finish that thought I was snapped out of it when someone ran into me.

Said someone was the same size as me, so we both ended up on the ground. I was on my back and the other was positioned with their torso over my stomach.

At that point I was way too stunned to berate my brother foe the amused glint in his eye, and after that I was too occupied by the small green snake on my chest starring back at me.

I froze, the closest I have ever been to a snake before that moment was when I was petting a corn snake over six years ago at a zoo. That starring contest with the snake seemed to go on for an eternity, but likely only lasted for a couple of seconds before the person that ran into me (a girl my age, at least in this dream world) grabbed it and stood up.

Still not recovered from the ordeal, I had no time to react before the snake and girl were gone somewhere in the crowd, with a hastily thrown out apology.

I let my eyes rest on the place where she disappeared into the crowd and then back at my brother a couple of times. He still had an amused glint in his eye, but I ignored it for something I thought more important at that moment.

After all, a girl with a pet snake could hardly be afraid of bugs like other girls, and that made me determined to go through with my decision.

So with a glint in my eyes that could be interpreted as similar to a smile, I turned to my brother and looked him in the eyes.

"Nii-san, who was that girl?"

**AN: Another chapter that has gone through beta **

**Beta: Shadowwhat**


	3. Chapter 3: First Law of 'Dream world'

**Shirushi: Aburume extraordinaire**

**Chapter 3: First law of 'Dream world'**

When it came down to it my brother didn't know who the girl was except that she was one of the orphans at the closest orphanage (there were three orphanages in Konoha apparently).

The good news was that it was easy sneaking into the orphanage and eavesdrops for information. After all it was also good training for becoming a ninja so my family and clan wouldn't complain about it.

Besides I had decided the exact moment I asked my brother bout her that she would be my friends no matter what. On the other side of their dreams, in the real world I would hardly ever initiate a friendship with someone else because I was a bit too shy, but I had sworn to myself to be braver (and more outgoing, even if I was an Aburame) in this place I had dubbed 'dream world' (it felt strange calling it naruto world when said person/character was yet to be born).

It was my sworn 'oath' to be braver that caused me to stand by my decision to befriend the girl with the pet snake even after I learned exactly who she was.

She was Anko.

You know, the proctor for the second part of the chunin exam the Konoha twelve and the sand siblings where in.

The former apprentice of the insane snake Orocimaru of the sannin.

That piece of information had me of the loop for days, both inside and outside the 'dream world'. My information about her from a time further along the timeline didn't seem to fit what I had seen of her (except her love for snakes and dango).

She was more timid than outgoing but not as bad as Hinata. Luckily she was missing said Hyūga's stalking tendencies.

My efforts to befriend her failed spectacularly anyway and not because she refused to be my friend ether, every time I tried to walk up and talk to her something got in the way.

Sometimes it was a crowd of civilians or a genin team falling of the roof while trying out roof hopping for the first time. Other times it was by some of the higher level ninja causing a commotion in the street just then, this happened more often than you would think thanks to all the eccentric ninja in this village.

It all felt like the entire elemental countries were working against me wanting to make a friend. The worst thing was that I didn't know why it happened, was it just the ordinary Aburame curse when trying to be social or was it because I as something akin to a self-insert was forbidden to befriend any character from the series with the exception of the my brother?

The fact that my so called loving brother seemed to enjoy my fruitless attempts irritated me further, I would almost bet that he was a little sadistic. So when my sixty-seventh attempt failed I went to the closest training ground and turned my frustration into useful energy with training.

It was not taijutsu training, I had only been allowed to do the basic warming up and stretching exercises for that the other stuff would have to wait until after I had gotten my own hive. The thing I was doing performing what I had learned in self-defense classes while I studied at the university.

I was so into what I was doing I didn't noticed when someone sneaked up on me (which could become a really dangerous habit for a shinobi).

"Uhm.. excuse me…

The poor girl didn't get a chance to finish before I had her on the ground in an iron grip (as much as an iron grip I could muster) and all on reflexes that had seemed to have followed me into 'dream world' from the real one.

When I realized what I had done (to the same girl I wanted to befriend no less) seconds later I hurriedly helped her up muttering apologies and at the same time lecturing her on not sneaking up on people who are training.

"So… why did you sneak up on me in the first place?"

I was curious as for the answer and now that both of us calmed down from that little episode I could finally ask. She looked embarrassed down on the ground as she tried to gather her courage to answer.

"I…wanted to ask what you were doing. Those… moves looked very… interesting."

When she finished she looked even more embarrassed that earlier but I saw a chance to befriend her right there and I would definitely take it.

"They are for self-defense. I could teach you if you want."

Anko seemed to light up at the prospect of learning and I knew that training her would be the perfect way to befriend her.

The following weeks we meet and trained and slowly I manage to befriend her. By the time Anko had learned everything I had to teach we still meet and trained for by then we were officially best friends.

Looking back at that moment two years later I could safely write down one rule to remember about 'dream world' and that is _"You are not able to befriend characters of the series intentionally only coincidentally" _

**AN: I had to skip a scene I wanted to but in this one but I'll have to put it in the next chapter so the chapters get a similar length. On the positive side, I may be able to post the next chapter two weeks from now, maybe earlier but I have too but my schoolwork first.**

**On a side note, does anyone know who her brother is? I have placed a couple of clues in the chapters. **


	4. Chapter 4 Beetle ceremony of pain

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 4: Beetle ceremony of pain**

"Are you ready Shirushi?" my 'dream world' father asked me with a face that was mostly apatic but if you looked close you could see a small traces of concern.

It had been months since she had befriended Anko and my fifth birthday in this world had been a week ago. And according to the Aburame clans traditions it was time for me to recive my own hive. It was true that the contract to host a hive was made at birth (by the parents) it was at five years of age that the contract was fulfilled.

I took a step towards the family shrine where I were to receive my hive before I turned around and gave a nod in answer to his question. Both my mother and brother where on missions so my father was the only one there, not that I would have been any less nervous if they were here as well.

The first part of the ceremony had already been held and we were at the end phase. The first part was easy, only some tests/calculations on how many of those chakra sucking bugs I could control and how many my body could handle.

The last part or the one I like to call the end phase of the ceremony was simply me receiving the bugs at the family shrine, and according to my brother it was really painful when the bugs enter your body through your skin for the first time, so you can see why I would be nervous.

My father was nervous because there had been incidents where the child (me at the moment) would enter a coma from the pain and not wake up for years or at all (even if it was not that common but the risk was there), and his nerves only made it worse. My only consolation was that if I went into a coma I would probably only return to the real world.

So it was that thought that I entered the family shrine and stopped on the spot I had previously been told to. I took a few deep breaths trying to calm myself as I saw the bugs closing in on me.

To be honest I almost ran away from the shrine when I felt the bugs crawling up my legs and continue until they evenly covered all of my visible skin (I had to where minimal clothing while still being decently covert, which in my case equaled a miniskirt and a short sleeved shirt) and it was at that moment I closed my eyes.

When I later looked back at that moment I wished I had kept them open since losing one sense increases the sensitivity of the others, or something like that from what I heard and that I probably made the process more painful for myself.

My brother had definitely not lied when he told me it was painful. I could give you some metaphor or comparison to express how much it hurt if I actually knew one that could describe the pain truthfully. In my entire life (both this one and my real one) there had never been a moment where I had ever felt as much pain as at that moment. I might be unable to describe the pain of it all but the nausea that came with it could be described as when you are really sick while having your period.

Luckily for me I blacked out from the pain in what was probably seconds, even if it felt like an eternity for me.

When I emerged from the blackness that was unconsciousness I was back in the real world, in my bed at 7 o'clock in the morning as if it was only an ordinary day waking up after falling asleep in the 'dream world'.

For the next week or so I kept on living my ordinary life in the real world and every time I feel asleep all I had was ordinary dreams (some that I don't even remember) and not once did I wake up in the 'dream world'.

In the end I concluded that Shirushi ('dream world' me) was in a coma or dead.

**AN: I'm really sorry for not posting this chapter earlier (which I pretty much promised it would be) but I had a writer's block in how I should have the ceremony play out. So from experience I won't promise that the next chapter will be out before Christmas, but probably around New Years, maybe. **


	5. Chapter 5:Footprints from a Dream

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 5: Footprints' from a Dream**

It had been sometime around the end of November when I had woken up in reality because of the ceremony and I had yet to return.

Christmas Eve and all that came with it had already passed, without my family starting an argument like all the previous year's thankfully and still I had no real idée of what had happened to my dream self Shirushi.

However, during the days between Christmas and New Year's Eve I noticed strange things, noting major, but things that could be explained by claiming it to be a coincident or not be noticed at all if I didn't know myself well enough.

The first thing had been related to bugs…Yes, bugs or more like insects but it was not that big a difference to me at the time.

I was winter and cold, around 22°C at noon and it was not that uncommon to find flies, spiders and ants (especially ants) trying to seek shelter from the cold and while I had never been afraid of them and it really didn't bother me that much sharing a house with them (a part of that tolerance coming from my 'dream life' as an Aburame) I had absolutely no tolerance for them entering by bed, especially when I was asleep.

So it happened that when I found an ant crawling in my bed I was anything but happy.

I slapped it away without thinking and I didn't care if it survived and landed on the floor or not. My mind irritated wished they all could just leave me alone and stay out of sight.

It could be a coincident that all the ants and flies seemed to disappear after that and that I had seen neither since. Before that I had seen them almost every day and then they just vanish without a trace, which was definitely not normal.

The second strange thing might not seem strange to you and would probably been dismissed by me as well if not put in the same context as the first thing and the dreams themselves.

It was noting remarkable really.

I only found myself having more energy than usual during winter, normally winter tended to make you lazy not full of energy. So it was out of the ordinary but not really as far as strange yet.

The strange vibes came when I beat my little brother in arm wrestling that I had NEVER done before, at least not after he went thru puberty.

Now don't get me wrong, I had trained a little self defence that I had also thaught Anko and I did enjoy swimming a lot but I had never been well trained. You would never see me training in a gym.

My brother on the other hand did enjoy computers and the games that came with them a little more than may seem healthy but at least he balanced it out with all the sports he participated in. He played floor ball*, football (even if he quit), skiing and orientation. He even participated in a ski orientation contest once.

So it's not really that surprising that he always won. He should have won time as well if not for being surprised that I somehow had gotten stronger since the last time.

At least that was what he claimed afterwards.

As it is I am sure these things are connected to my dreams, so all I can really do is wait until the new year start and hopefully find out if Shirushi was alive and in a coma or dead. If my dream self was dead I probably would never find out what all this was all about.

At least the new year was only hours away.

**AN: … I am not that fond of this chapter, it would not come out as I wanted it too but I did promise I would post this chapter around New Year. At least I get to expose if Shirushi is alive or not next chapter and hopefully who her brother is as well if all goes as planned. And it is not Torune that does not fit the timeline I hinted at in chapter two I believe.**

***I think the English word for the sport, the Swedish name for it is innebandy. **


	6. Chapter 6: Bouncing Back

**Shirushi: Aburame extodinaire**

**Chapter 6: Bouncing Back**

It seemed that I was right.

I did find out what happened to my dream self/Shirushi as the New Year started. Apparently the pain from the bugs entering my body for the first time (I did have a feeling of something crawling under my skin and something buzzing in the back of my mind, but it was not too annoying) had landed me/Shirushi in a coma. No surprise there.

What I had not expected was how long I had been in it.

From my perspective it had been only been three weeks but when I woke up as Shirushi I found out I had been in a coma for almost half a year. Needless to say, my 'dream' family was overjoyed (even if they where stoic enough to not show it to someone outside the clan) that I was awake.

Amusing enough, at least from my perspective, it was Anko that found out I was awake first, even before the hospitals' staff.

However that was only because I woke up when she was the only one in the room, her expression as she saw me as she replaced the flowers (wild ones) in the vase beside me was priceless. I wish I had been able to take a picture of it to maybe use as blackmail on her in the future if needed. Too bad I couldn't do that I would have probably needed it.

Either way, it was a happy moment when I as Shirushi was reunited with my family.

_Flashback. _

_Anko had left the room in a hurry only for a few minutes before my brother rushed to me at super speed as soon as he came through the door. He tackled me in a hug which seemed sort of out of character for him and startled me extremely._

"_Muta-nii!"_

_I'm sure the staff of the entire hospital could hear me but I really didn't care as the only response I got for my outburst was a quiet laugh from my parents as they had entered soon after my brother with Anko in tow._

_Flashback end_

Now my only concern was to regain the muscle strength I lost while being in a coma (ninja medics could only lessen the damage with chakra) so I could become a ninja, what a pain. "Huh".

Or as Shikamaru would say, troublesome.

**AN: Will probably not be able to write the next chapter of this until summer, probably. First year at University is really draining, especially when you just moved out.**

**(Hoping to survive till summer)**


	7. Chapter 7: School Days

**Shirushi: Aburame extrodinaire **

**Chapter 7: School Days**

The time leading up to my entry in the Academy where frustrating, I was so close to give up on everything and live out the foreseen future as a civilian. But Anko made sure to keep me motivated through it all.

I was not sure if I should be grateful or disturbed, considering she did it mostly by threatening me, mostly of the time with things like sneaking snakes into my bed or even more effective by filling my room with bug eating plants. One thing I was happy about was that she had not discovered my fear for needles (more like a phobia sometimes) so it was somewhat bearable.

Thanks to her and my family I was able to reach the level I where at before but my endurance was still lower than I wanted it to be and my body still felt unused (best word I could find for it really and it fit).

To be honest, I was rather surprised to find I could manage to keep up with Anko for almost ten minutes when the time came for the both of us to enter the academy.

Our entrance into the academy was no big affair; there was only a boring speech about the duties of shinobi before we were divided in classes and have our first basic, very basic, overview on what we would be learning during our time at the academy and classroom rule. It was more or less like any other first day at a new school I have experienced.

The kids in my class gave me a wide berth because of my bugs (at least the ones that were not clan kids) and the only one I spoke with during the entire day where Anko and only because she refused to let me get away with being quiet. I was already seeing the traces of the person she would be in the future.

The class role call was boring as well as my class lacked any canon characters, the only names besides Ankos that I recognized were Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane. Those were the guys that were usually on guard duty and carrying around stuff all the time right?

As a side note, I finally found out something about the timeline. Seems like the Third Shinobi War had started already, no wonder there was no unnecessary ceremonies for entering the academy, the war was not to noticeable in the village yet (or more like I never noticed it as I only recently had been allowed to leave the compound).

I think the Third Shinobi War ended soon after the Kanabi bridge mission; did Rin die during the war or in its aftermath? Timelines was pain to keep track off, the only part I knew about with some certainty was after the Kyuubi's attack.

Anko hit her elbow into my stomach and the pain instantly puled me out of my musing. I managed to not groan in pain to loudly, Anko had very sharp elbows.

"What was that for Anko" I complained to her while glaring at my friend in the corner of my eye, just as we were dismissed for the day.

"Stop spacing out and looking so grim" was her sharp reply, our short time of friendship had made wonders for her self-confidence " you should try to smile more Shirushi."

I was almost sure the expression she gave me accused me for not smiling, like not smiling was some sort of crime.

"I am an Aburame, we tend to be unable to really smile, it is one of the clan curses I guess." _'That and being forgotten'._

Anko gave me a stare that told me that she did not believe that for a second.

"Show me a smile." She said in a tone that I knew meant she would not leave me alone about it if I did not.

I relax my shoulders in defeat and recalled how easy it was in my other body and gave it my best shot, how could smiling be so difficult in this bode compared to my old one?

As I thought, my attempt at a smile looked horrible if Anko's reaction was any indication. She had backed up a step and her expression was slightly horrified so I let my face go back to its stoic expression.

"Maybe that curse is true" Anko muttered before getting a determent look in her eyes "then I will break that curse. When I'm done with you, you will smile with no problem."

She grinned at me before dragging me towards the park and that smile let me know that she would not give up until she had taught me to smile properly, even if it would take her years.

**AN: The last scene about Anko deciding to teach Shirushi to smile have been on my mind since I introduced Anko in this fic, but I found no good opportunity to put it in. I put it in here as I was at a lost as to what else to write for their first day at the academy. **

**No promises on when the next update is going to be (did not think I would find the inspiration or time to write this chapter).**

**On another note, I have almost no idée how the timeline for Naruto goes (only the events and small hints of in with order they occur) so the one I use is somewhat AU. Muta are for example younger in canon than he will be in this fic. **


	8. Chapter 8: School Days Diary

_Coded in Swedish_

**Shirushi: Aburame Extraordinaire**

**Chapter 8: School Days, Diary entry**

_Dear Diary,_

_Most of the things we got to learn during our first semester at the ninja Academy were theoretical, like getting started in mathematics so we could solve how to throw a kunai in a specific angel and force for it to land where we wanted it to. It was not that hard to do as long as you remembered the formula. However, something that had always bothered me about this from the moment I saw what kind of questions the first part of the chunin exams had I had always wondered what good this knowledge served you in a fight._

_I guess math could be used in planning an ambush of coming up with some strategies ahead of time, but I failed to see it doing any good in an actual fight. Then you would not have the time to use the formula every time you threw a kunai and have to rely on previous experience anyhow._

_Then again maybe all ninjas are so good in head counting that they can solve the formula in less than seconds, not very likely as Naruto at least seemed to not even be able to solve it with pen and paper._

_Even if I found it a bit useless in the context of ninja training, the problems we were given where easy as of yet and even if math had never been my strong point my previous schooling in the subject meant I would have no problem with it this time around, unless it was head counting. _

_And if you wonder about if we did anything that was not theoretical my answer would be yes, but the only physical training we had was no different from PE at school. Except the fact that we did a __**lot**__ more running than playing sports. _

_Aside from the academy I have had my hands full with Anko´s smiling lessons, and they gave yet to show any results. Our entrance into the academy have drastic effects on Anko and she have been a bit tiring to be around, the way it is tiring to be around children when your older and not because she was boring._

_Every chance I got for ´free time´ this semester I have been spending with in the forest collecting bug´s with my brother when he has home from a mission our just strolling through on my own. Sometimes I could convince my parents or Anko to train, since I know I will need it and I have not much else to do considering there is no internet. _

_I have also tried to find a timeline for this world so I would have a better grasp as to when things happen, but I find it next to impossible. How old where Madara and Hashirama when the formed the village? How old where Tsunade when her grandfather died? For how long where Tabirama Hokage?_

_I grew frustrated about it and have now given up about it and haw now given up as even the history books in Konoha´s library are unhelpful, full of propaganda. From now on I will take everything as it comes, not like I could come up with a masterplan to save everyone even if I found a completed timeline._

_That's all for this time. I will try writing more than once every half a year, but I have never been good at having a diary._

_/Shirushi Aburame_

I looked over my entry in the improvised diary and felt a bit proud at the symbol code I had made out of boredom years back. It was probably not a real challenge to a ninja as every symbol in my code was just a substitute for a letter in the alphabet used in Swedish (and worked as well for many other languages). Some of the symbols was somewhat easy to figure out but I had a lot of confidence in that no one knew Swedish in this world.

After all what chances was there that someone else from my world (or any version of it) in the same parallel world as me and knew Swedish? Not impossible (I am not that arrogant) but certainly not too large either as Swedish was not as international as English or Spanish.

"Imōto?"

I slammed the book I had been writing in and looked around in slight panic, not wanting anyone to see and try to solve it so early into the game. When I heard Muta´s quiet laugh I relaxed somewhat and hoped he hadn't been there long enough to se anything I written.

He had a hobby outside of bug (which is almost a family requirement) and it involved everything to do with collecting information, this of course included codes. I did not help that even genin level ninja´s where incredible quiet.

"You should sleep Imōto. It's much too late for you to be up right now."

I only nod and lay down to sleep, not that sleep had been anything like normal since all this 'self-insert' business. It felt like I never got enough sleep.

As soon as I closed my eyes darkness meet me and unlike all the previous times I had fallen asleep I did not wake up as Erika or as Shirushi after a day as the other or a dreamless sleep.

The darkness gave away to a dim mist, it enveloped me completely and I made me feel wary as I suddenly hear a suitable spooky music, but for all I knew that part could have been my imagination. It all felt very surreal.

In the mist I suddenly saw a figure enveloped in shadow and I could only tell that it looked human but not if it was female or male.

"**I think I did the right decision… you will definitely be entertaining. But up a good show for me please, hehehe ~ ~."**

Said what I guessed was a woman's voice from the shadow, echoing out through the mist so that it seemed like it came from every direction. Her voice had a metallic quality to it that I had often encountered in horror games. It made her laugh sound disturbing and her word menening all the more disturbing.

"**I will see you again, and maybe then you will have done more to entertain me. You really don't want to disappoint me ~. It is so hard to find any good entertainment."**

And with those words the shadow faded away and the mist parted.

Suddenly I woke up as Erika with the clock on my nightstand showing 03:06. My work started 07:00, but I could not go back to sleep. My eyes refusing to close as I cursed myself for being easily frightened.

My fear of the dark that I had as a kid was back in full force. My fear of the unknown, of that you can't see had returned.

'''

**AN: I am a bit proud of the ending of this chapter even if I am not sure if I made it creepy enough.**

**As for the who the shadow is? It is not a canon character but an OC. One that will have a role to play in the plot I have worked out (no guarantee against plot-holes as it is the most complex plot I come up with for my fanfics so we will have to see how it goes).**

**I will also not likely go into detail about her time at the academy as I have a hard time coming up with the naruto timeline (the information about pepeles ages and events according to Wikipedia seems impossible to make a timeline from) and have given up on it. So don't expect everything to have a timeframe. At least not until the actual series starts.**


	9. Chapter 9: School Days Diary 2

_Coded in Swedish_

**Shirushi: Aburame Extraordinaire**

**Chapter 9: School Days, Diary entry 2**

_Dear Diary,_

_It has been three days since I last written, three days as Shirushi at least. It has been a week as Erika. One week being paranoid about going to sleep, naturally I did not sleep much, even less than normal. This in turn made me temporary move in with my uncle (my only family in the same city) as I could not get any rest being alone. My uncle as well as the rest of my family had started to worry about me and as a consequence I had been forced to take some days of from my job by calling in sick. _

_The company of my uncle in the same house has made it easier to go to sleep and I have started up living my double life again. I still is rather confused as to how time flows in the different worlds, a couple of months ago I would say that time in the dreamworld moves faster than in the real world because of what happened when I in a coma before the academy. However this time, only one night passed in the dreamworld for the week I spend as Erika. _

_Not that it really matters as I never seems to miss a day in either my lives (even if it feels like I am awake 24/7 half the time) so it did not cause any trouble. Except that the feeling of not have gotten any sleep make me rant almost all the time, luckily it is only in my head or on paper most of the time._

_Have to stop here as the Konoha library (where I am sitting and writing right now) is closing. _

_/Shirushi_

I closed the book I used as a diary and put it in a backpack that I had gotten from my brother when I started the academy. The library was mostly empty already and I had not found anything useful to figure out just what that dark figure had been all about.

As I left and rounded the corner to the mostly deserted (it was rather late so few civilians where out) road back home I ran into someone.

"I'm sorry I did not look where I was going:" I said out of sheer reflex without looking at the person I collided with.

However when I did look up (they where taller than me) I felt myself freeze, in that moment I could swear that this person looked exactly like the figure in my dream. I was even sure I could hear the same eerie music playing in the background and the fact that it was already dark did not do the experience any better.

I did the only thing I could think of at that moment.

I ran.

Who cares if I acted like a coward, I did not care.

Having a double life in my sleep? That I could deal with. Said double life being in a fictional world? No problem. Violence, blood and seemingly ability transfers between said double lives? I could manage.

Supernatural figures that seemed to be out to get you?

No.

Freaking.

Way.

There I draw the freaking line.

I did not sleep well that night, even though I more or less forced my brother to sleep next to be to not be alone.

**AN: I had the idée to another scene between these two but it just did not want to be written and I had promised myself to finish this LAST WEEK, so it is a little short. However I will most likely have some timeskipes next chapter so I can get the main plot going.**

**And I had to upload this from my brother´s computure as my own refuse to let me on the internet, I'll have to get a new one soon.**

**^Bonus^**

The woman watched as the Aburame child ran off as fast as she could muster and could not help but smile.

"_Seems she has met __**her**__ already, at least considering her reaction. It really was as entertaining as promised."_

Without another thought the woman continued on her way home, still laughing quietly at the encounter.


	10. Chapter 10: Flashbacks and Timeskips

_Coded in Swedish_

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinarie**

**Chapter 10: Flashbacks and timeskipes**

"_Dear__Diary_

_It has been almost two years (more or less) since I wrote and my life as Shirushi has turned even more obscure as to why I actually found myself here in the first place. After the first time I thought I saw the woman from my 'transition between worlds', who I later to my utter embarrassment found out was actually a member of the Uchiha clan, I actually saw her a handful of times. Always when I was alone and every time I ran. She never showed up when I where with others and have never pursued me when I ran. This, have given me a sense of security but is not really what have made my live more complicated. No, that came from the events following me running from the woman. Like the first time I ran into Aburame Shibi and his team."_

_**^Flashback^**_

_**I ran as fast as I could, much faster than I had ever done as Erika, and I dared not look back in case she was following me. **_

'_**I don't think she is following me right anymore.'**_

_**When that thought entered my head I decided to turn my head and look back. Of course with my luck that was when I ran straight into someone.**_

_**At first I was scared that it was that woman. It wasn't however.**_

_**It was a girl that looked to be around fifteen or sixteen, with short dark red hair. She was wearing a chunin vest and looked about as surprised to see me as I was her.**_

_**Of course, she recovered from her surprise first and I swear that the smile that formed on her face could rival Guy´s in intensity. **_

"_**Ohhh… aren't you the cutest!"**_

_**The woman shouted so high I would be surprised if the entire village had not heard her before she caught me in a hug. Despite the fact that she did not look that strong her hugs were suffocating and despite my training I did not stand a chance of getting out of it. All I could do was pray that she would release me before I died because of the lack of air**_

"_**Aiko, you should let her go before you accidentally kill her."**_

_**I did not recognize the voice and at that moment I did not really care as I was way to relieved that she did let me go and that I could breathe again. **_

"_**Ohhh…you always have to ruin it, Kazuki." **_

_**Aiko, as the other called her, whined and crossed her arms in a manner that came off as really childish. The one called Kazuki only rolled his eyes in response and it was only then that I was able to see him proprlly (considering my new experience of the hug of DOOM).**_

_**He looked very alike Aiko, they both had short dark red hair even if his was only a little shorter but at a closer look you could see that their eyes were not the exact same shade of brown and Kazuki´s face was more masculine. They had to be twins or at least siblings. **_

_**They were wearing Konoha headbands so they were not danger to me, and if that woman from before turned up I had at least someone that most likely would help protect me beside myself.**_

"_**Aiko. Kazuki. We got a mission."**_

_**I jumpt in surprise and turned around to the (yet again) new voice as I had not noticed anyone being there before (not noticing Aiko and Kazuki were justified, I had been scared to death during both).**_

_**The newcomer wore a trench coat with a hood and sunglasses, not unlike what Shino wore in shippuden. His hood was up so I could not make out his features, even so I directly knew he was a member of my clan, the Aburame, as no one else dressed like that outside our clan (it was like we had the patent for the trench coat and sunglasses look). **_

_**Aiko turned to said Aburame with a pleading expression.**_

"_**But we almost just finished a mission. Do we have to do another one so soon, Shibi."**_

_**Shibi? That was the name of Shino´s dad right? At least that explained why he looked so much like him, even if it may have only been the outfit. **_

"_**Don´t complain Aiko, we´re in the middle of a war. There is not tome to fool around with tiny academy students." **_

_**If I was not so grateful for Kazuki rescuing me from Aiko´s hug I could have glared at him for calling me tiny in such a degrading tone but as it was I did not bother.**_

"…"

_**Shibi only watched as, who I assumed was his teammates, banter and if I could see his eyes I would imagine there would be a glint of amusement in them. **_

_**Aiko expression turned playfully irritated as she gave Kazuki a glare. Her expression change yet again as she turned towards me. She now wore the same smile she had worn when she hugged me and it made me freeze up in fear that she would do it again (don´t get me wrong, I usually love hugs and hugging people, but Aiko´s hug had been terrifying).**_

_**Luckily for me she did not hug me.**_

"_**I guess I have to meet up with you after the mission then~." She cheerfully stated to herself (because I doubt she was really talking to me).**_

_**Before I could say anything, like asking why she would meet up with me if we just meet and I had not even gotten to introduce myself, she disappeared into thin air only leaving a couple of leaves behind. Kazuki and Shibi soon left in a similar way and I was left alone.**_

_**I just stood there for what probably was twenty minutes in utter confusion at the strange meeting before I slowly made my way towards the clan compound, I suddenly found myself exhausted and only wanted to sleep.**_

_**^Flashback ends^**_

_Aiko did meet up with me after her mission and gave me the same greeting as that first time. I have been forced to experience her hugs of DOOM on a regular basis. Regularly, as in every time her team wasn't on a mission. She is an alright person if you ignore her already mentioned hugs´ and strange personality (like her obsession with anything she found cute)._

_Shibi and Kazuki had apparently been actively working on keeping her far away from the academy for this specific reason. It was just bad luck we had run into each other (or more like that woman´s fault) and now I couldn't get rid of her._

_At the same time I had come to put Kazuki on a pedestal made of hero worship, he was always the one to save me every time I was caught in Aiko´s hugs. He would always lecture Aiko about she should let me be and if she did not relies me when he did he would free me by force._

_He never really spoke to me as much as about me to the others, but given the circumstances I did not mind too much. All I really was to him was someone to try to keep his sister from, even if it was for my continued health and not his sisters. _

_He was more reliable than Shibi, he only watched my dilemma with amusement, so much for clan loyalties. I am totally sure that he found it even funnier when my bugs started to react and bite Aiko when she hugged me, trying to defend me. Needless to say, I have grown fonder of my bugs because of this reason. People might find us creepy because of the bugs, but at least we would always have someone on our side. I am convinced that it's similar for the Inuzuka clan when concerning their dogs. _

_All things consider, I guess it could be worse but I really hope my life will not get anymore complicated than it already is._

_/Shirushi_

**AN: I had a really hard time finishing this chapter, I got a writer's block in the beginning of the flashback as I could not come up with personalities for Shibi´s teammates, not to mention how to write Shibi himself. In the end I plucked Aiko´s and Kazuki´s personalities (and their names) from thin air out of boredom. I hope none of you will hate them as at least Kazuki will get a big role in the story (Aiko will probably be something in the direction of a comic relief more than anything else).**

**Now I am off to start on the next chapter it will never get written. Please tell me what you think of Aiko and Kazuki if you are up to it, I would appreciate the feedback. **


	11. Chapter 11: Kazuki-san

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinarie**

**Chapter 11: Kazuki-san**

I kept a watchful eye out in case Aiko, or Anko, she wanted to continue their smiling lessons but I was not in the mood for it, would show up as I walked down the streets of Konoha. In the case of Aiko it would really not matter that much as she was a chunin and more skilled in sneaking up on people than I was at detecting people sneaking up on me. If it was Anko however, then I had a fair chance at detecting her first.

The fact that I wanted to avoid both of them was one of the reasons I was walking around randomly in Konoha as they would have it all too easy finding me if I stayed in the clan compound. Another reason was that I wanted to find the place in Konoha that Shikamaru used for cloud gazing (the one where he befriended Choji on the anime) as well as the training ground that team seven trained at.

Konoha was huge so it would take me who know how long time to find them even if my sense of direction was rather good when it came to buildings and such, and that's not to brag. It was not like this was my first time trying to find them either. I was actually starting to suspect that the first law of 'dream world' applied to places as well. If that where the case I would make that the second law of 'dream world'.

Now that I think about it, it would make sense if it worked like that. It would explain why I (despite trying) could not find the academy before my 'dream world' parents took me there on my first day. The way from the compound to the academy had been ridiculously easy so is shouldn't have been so hard to find, yet it had been.

I groaned in annoyance at the thought that my search was more or as pointless as I wouldn't be able to find what I was looking for if this was true, and I was pretty sure it was.

…

'Wait a minute, where did everyone go?' I could have sworn this street wasn't abandoned just a moment ago. Dam it I must have been too caught up in my own thoughts again, at least Anko or Aiko had not shown up.

Sudenly I got a really unnerving feeling. 'Is that mist?'

'…'

'Oh no… It's her again.'

A half hour of running (as I always did when face to face with her, DON'T JUDGE ME) I finally came to a stop on a rooftop I was slightly out of breath.

"What got you in such a hurry? Aiko is away on a solo mission so it can't be that."

'That voice.' "Kazuki-san."

"Hm."

He closed his eyes and I was not sure if he still wanted me to answer his previous question or if he had completely lost interest in my presence.

"I ran for the same reason as the first time I meet you, Shibi and Aiko" I muttered lowly, mostly to myself, as I looked around the rooftop I had found myself on.

What I found made me tempted to hit myself in the face in an epic face palm. Of all the rooftops in the village I had managed to stop on the exact one had been looking for, for hours I might add. And I had only found it because I had tried to get away from that woman, if anything this settled it.

Second Law of 'Dream World': Iconic places seen in the anime cannot be found before you are shown the way to them or find them by accident while not really looking for them.

If the there was more laws, and I´m sure there is, there is no chance I will be able to influence the canon storyline, at least not unless I am incredibly lucky.

I did not get to continue my grumblings however as Kazuki apparently decided I was worth his time talking to.

"Then what were you running from back then."

His eyes were still closed and he outstretched on the rooftop as he looked like he was sleeping. To be honest, I was not so sure if I should answer him. Running from a strange woman sounded a bit pathetic if you were training to become a ninja. Then again, if I did tell him, maybe he could do something to make her leave me alone.

…

I think I will take the chance telling him.

"Well… there is this strange woman that appears when I am alone with a lot of mist talking about how she hopes I will be entertaining."

I trailed off towards the end as Kazukis had opened his eyes and started to stare at me intensely when I had reached the middle mark of my sentence. It felt like he was staring into the deepest depths of my soul.

/Timeskip/

Apparently, Kazuki´s thoughts on the strange woman had been that she was a spy or infiltrator from Mist. Probably because I mentioned how she would appear with a lot of mist. Personally I was sure he was wrong, after all what kind of Mist ninja spy would expose their presence only to scare an academy student.

I did not protest however as Kazuki rapport his suspicions (to the Hokage or the head of the interrogation department most likely) and then apply his temporary solution to the problem himself.

He dragged me off to the training (the one most often seen in the anime, seems like I somehow manage to fulfill my goal of finding both of them) were he immediately proceeded to test my fighting ability.

I did not reach up to his expectations. The rest of my day was spent working up my speed and strength under Kazuki´s watchful eye. The guy was a slave driver, he did not allow me to stop until the sun started to set and I was finally allowed to limp my way home.

I was asleep on my feet and famished (Kazuki insisted it was good to practice going without food if it ever ran you when on a mission). Halfway home I stumbled and fell.

I stayed down to exacted to pick myself up. The last I noticed before falling asleep was someone picking me up.

**AN: I really did not expect to finish this chapter so quickly. That's a god thing as I doubt I will have time to write until sometime in the middle of August. **


	12. Chapter 12: Lessons

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 12: Lessons **

"Come on, try it again."

"It's not going to turn out any better than the first time."

I really didn't want to, Anko had insisted on training me in how to smile, and most of the time I did not mind humoring her. Plus, it would be kind of cool to be able to smile since Aburame were not known for it.

As I said earlier, I did not mind humoring her, but we had been going at it sense the sun rose above the trees and now it was in the middle of the afternoon. My face felt stiff from trying to smile for who knows how many hours.

"Come on. Smile."

Anko all but ordered me; she was getting even more aggressive in her demand. Not wanting her to go to more extreme measures I did my best to smile. I am one hundred percent sure that it looked even worse than when the lesions had started, my face was to sore to give it more effort at this point.

Anko gave me a disapproving that soon turned into a grin. She held up a newly sharpened kunai and said. "Smile."

I ran for my life.

I did eventually manage to lose Anko (I had a lot of practice). Unluckily for me I was found by Aiko and was forced to suffer thru her hugs of DOOM. As usually Kazuki eventually showed up to save me from his sister (he must have a sixth sense for saving people from her).

This did not end my troubles however as he dragged me off to the training ground.

'This was going to be a long day.'

"K-Kazuki-se…sensei. C-Can" 'Breath in, breath out. "I go ho…home now?" I panted, so tied that I suspected I would be able to go home even if I were allowed to.

Kazuki turned to be with an expression that clearly stated that he was not impressed with my current ability to talk at the moment.

"You can, but I expect you to be here tomorrow afternoon to continue your training."

He said and walked away from me just as it began to rain.

'Just, great. It's raining and I don't have any energy to move. I' am so going to have a cold tomorrow and he is going to force me to train regardless if I am sick or not.'

Even with these thought I did not move, I only closed my eyes and concentrated on the raindrops hitting my face instead of my acing body.

"You overdid it today, Imōto."

I opened my eyes.

"Nii-san?"

My brother didn't reply but picked me up and started to walk towards the compound.

"SHIRUSHI-CHAN!"

'Oh no…"

"Run, Muta-nii! Run!"

My brother had humored me and had managed to escape Aiko. I did not care if he gave me a look that clearly stated he had no idée what had caused my reaction to Aiko, I was only glad to not having to live through another one of her hugs that day.

We had been forced to take a longer route home and likely for me it had given me enough time to recover at least enough to walk on my own. However I was still tiered and hungry as I had barely eaten anything since breakfast.

Luckily, our parents had been waiting for us so that we all could have a late meal together and I was more then grateful for the peaceful meal (seeing as no one in the family spoke that much to begin with, except me on occasion).

When the meal ended our father turned to me and, apparently ignoring my obvious exhaustion, stated.

"We will start your clan training now."

And so my head made contact with the table.

**AN: This chapter don't really have that big a role in the story´s plot but it is an insight of how Shirushi is currently spending her days, with lots of training. Her routine more or less consist of smiling lessons from Anko, training from Kazuki with her brother bringing her home afterwards (more often than not) and avoiding Aiko (without much success). **

**Poor Shirushi, it´s seems she never get any real freetime.**

**IMPORTANT (AT LEAST TO ME): I have wanted to start on a second SI for Katekyo Hitman Reborn where the SI is 'inserted' as one of the canon characters but I have a hard time desiding which one. SO I but up a poll and I would appreciate your opinion. Especially if you have seen KHR, and if you haven't? Go check it out, it´s hilarious. **

**Even if you haven't seen KHR I would appreciate that you vote, even if it is at random.**

**Thanks in advance. **


	13. Chapter 13: Training partner

**Shirushi: Aburame etraordinaire**

**Chapter 13: Training partner**

"You are getting stronger Shirushi-san." Kazuki stated in a tone that made it sound like he where stating a death toll for a mission instead of praising her. I would honestly never really know what was going on in that head of his. Even so, I knew he was right.

I had gotten stronger then I had been a month ago thanks to Kazuki´s training even if his training sessions never got any easier. All I had been doing with him has been training my strength, endurance and taijutsu, since that where Kazuki´s specialty (I have no idée why he and Shibi got placed on the same team; they are not a tracking team. Maybe they make up for each other's weaknesses), Aiko specialize in medical ninjutsu (now I am even more confused about how she never notice that she is suffocating me) and Shibi was a long range fighter like most (as far as I know all) shinobi from the Aburame clan.

"Thank you, Kazuki-sensei."

I manage to smile (well, almost a smile, Anko´s so called lessons had helped) despite the fact that I could barely stand, and he had most likely gone easy on me.

"I must inform you that I will not be able to train you anymore."

This time he sounded a bit apologetic, but only a little.

"Why?"

"I was asked to take on an apprentice as the graduates from the academy did not add up when they formed the genin teams."

That made me interested.

"Who?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Only one word questions today?"

This time I knew it was amusement I heard in his voice.

"No matter, you will meet him eventually."

He sounded like that would be the end of the conversation but I had something else in mind.

"If it is only one apprentice cant you train both of us?"

"I guess."

If I had not been used to reading my brother and parents facial expression to an extent I don't think I would have been able to tell that he was in deep thought.

"Meet me at the rooftop we first meet tomorrow at noon."

And with that he was gone, leaving me to recover as always. But even if he did not say anything obvious about it, I knew I got what I wanted, to continue training under Kazuki.

It´s true that he was a slave driver, but I doubt I would have gotten anywhere if he wasn't. My promise to myself about not being as lazy in this life as in my other one would have much harder to keep without him.

I could feel a hand on my shoulder and locked up to find my brother Muta.

"Give me ten minutes to rest and I will be fine walking home on my own two legs."

Yes, Kazuki had gone easy on me for today. However, I was sure I would not notice the difference by tomorrow, my body would hurt just as much as usual, the good kind of hurt. The one you get the day after you have trained hard and makes you feel great about it.

To say the day I would meet up with Kazuki (and if my suspicions were right his new apprentice) did not start out well. I woke up with the worst headache ever. Now and then it felt like it would fade away only to hit me with full force the moment I thought it was finally gone.

Even so, I manage to make my way to the place where I had told Kazuki about THAT woman (who had been surprisingly absent since then) months earlier.

When I had reached my destination my headache was on an all time high, and I barley registered the form of Kazuki and of someone smaller, who I assumed was his apprentice (and from what I could tell had a horrible fashion sense.

"Take a seat so we can start the introductions. Name, likes, dislikes and dreams for the future. You first."

Kazuki pointed at me and I decided to give it my best shot.

"Shirushi Aburame. Friends, stories and ramen (my secret obsession, if not as bad as Naruto´s). Traitors, bullies and being left behind by friends (I would never tell anyone of my dislike/fear of needles'). Haven't decided for a dream, so until then I will try to survive and enjoy myself as much as possible."

I kept it as short as I could as my headache grew worse when I was talking, though it could be only my imagination. Apparently this style of introductions where almost standard, with the full name, likes, dislikes' and dreams bit.

"Good now it's your turn."

Kazuki gestured at the shorter person this time and from what I could tell said person had tried to hold back their excitement.

"I am the most youthful Guy Maito, I like…"

I toned him out completely in utter shock. Kazuki´s student where Guy? How?

Now when I thing about it, their training regimes did seem familiar to each other. And now I would be training together with both of them, and I was not even out of the academy yet.

…

'What have I gotten myself into?"

**AN: When I came up with what to put in this chapter I actually expected it to be shorter, glad I was wrong. It ended some hundred word above my minimum for this story (not that that is hard, most of the time).**

**And next chapter will probably feature more Anko and Guy (let's hope I can write Guy in character, I will do my best).**

**Also, I have posted a KHR (I will probably do more as other character as I have some plot idées for it) go check it out if you are interested.**


	14. Chapter 14: Confused

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 14: Confused **

"Eh. Shirushi-chan, can't you keep up?"

Kazuki-sensei sounded way too amused for my liking. 'Why did I idolize him again? Oh right. Because I would love to act the same as him if our places had been reverse." As it was I was the one on the ground, exhausted from a race around Konoha against Guy (that I had lost) with my sensei looking down on me with his version of a wide grin (meaning it was barely noticeable).

I gave him my best glare, not finding the question worthy of an answer. I doubt he expected one from me either.

"Don't be upset, he is older then you after all."

'Do I really look so pathetic that he feels the need to cheer me up? He almost never do so that must be it.'

"Of course sen-…"

I was interrupted as both I and sensei heard a familiar voice shout in the distance that was getting closer.

Kazuki-sensei turned in the direction of the shout and I adjusted my head so that I could see what he was looking at. The only thing I saw before the collision was a large cloud of dust heading straight for me.

'Oh oh.'

_**CRASH**_

'Ow.'

"Yosh, I didn't see you there Shirushi-chan!"

"I … noticed."

"I see you decided to drop by ness-san."

"Hai! You have such an enthusiastic apprentice~"

"A…Aiko-san?"

"HYA! Shirushi-chan!"

'Help… me…Kazuki-sen…sei.'

After being exposed to both Guy and Aiko at the same time Kazuki had decided I needed some free-time away from training (or away from the risk of it happening again so soon afterwards).

So, I had visited the library to see if they had any fictional works I could read to escape the crazy existence that was my life. They did not have much for my 'dream body's' age group sadly enough, mostly for toddlers and adult readers. No wonder Kakashi read those orange books (what was their title again?), they seemed to be the only adult fiction that at least had a plot, which could not be said for many others.

On the end I found nothing I was interested in except Jiraya's only non-perverted work, and I had to more or less dig that book out of a forgotten corner.

I was just heading back to home were I would be able to read without the risk of being found by Aiko. It just happened that when I left the library I ran into (well, walked really) the same woman I had mistaken for **that** woman before, only to later find out was an Uchiha.

"Oh, it's you, not going to run off this time"

She actually smiled at me as she said that. Since when do Uchiha smile to strangers?

'Oh, God is that embarrassing.'

"Umm…I'm sorry for that. I… mistook you for someone else."

I dared not look her in the eyes. 'Great, now she is laughing at me.'

"Hahaha… I think I know who you mistook me for. She has developed a habit of playing pranks in her old age."

"Old age…?"

'But **that** woman looked no older than twenty-five.'

"I'm not sure we are thinking about the same person."

Now she definitely looked amused while trying to hide it at the same time. No laughter yet at least.

"I'm sure we do. If you call out her name when you go to sleep I'm sure she will come and talk to you. All you have to do is call Anathea."

"What?"

'Now I'm confused.'

Don't worry about it. Now if you excuse me I have some things I need to be doing."

With that she rounded a corner and displeased. I was still trying to process what she had said to try and stop her from leaving.

'What was that about?'

**AN: A short chapter this time, but I have good news. I got a new computer yesterday (on my birthday) so I won't need to borrow my brothers anymore (see AN for chapter 9). Yay me!**

**This chapter is part filler, part the plot moving forwards. I wanted to get to officially introduce Anathea soon and get that 'arc' of my story done with (in my head I have split it up in what I call the Anathea Arc and the Madara Arc. Possible with an Oroccimaru Arc in-between, or something similar). **

**I have already mentioned Anathea in my newer story IIWH: Lambo version (if you have read it or not, I don't know) and can't really continue that story until this one is past my so called Anathea Arc unless I want to spoil the surprise (at least I hope it comes as somewhat of a surprise to you when it's time) of what roll she plays in what is happening. As it is I have already left a hint (rather BIG hint, at least from my point of view) in the first chapter of IIWH. The reason for this is that the both take place in the same universe but that IIWH starts sometime after the Anathea Arc.**

**Oh and to XxSaphirezxX's reviw on my other story:**

**First question about my IS-as-Lambo: She (not sure what to name her, any idées?) will take up some of canon-Lambo's personality and act like just because she think it is fun, but I will try to let her have her own personality outside of that. However there will be 'rules' similar to those I have mentioned in this story that will sometimes intervene in how she acts. There will be times when she won't be in control of her own actions/personality.**

**Also, your questions about my other SI concerning if she have to be in a coma to live her double life like how Erika have to be asleep to live hers as Shirushi. I will say that all (or most) of those questions will hopefully be answered by the time the Anathea Arc is finished.**

**Thanks for reviewing, it actually helped me think up more details for the plot for both my ongoing stories. **

**Beta: looking for one in a deep, deep jungle filled with Beta profiles'. Wish me luck. **


	15. Chapter 15: Answers?

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 15: Answers?**

Even days after that confusing conversation it still plagued my mind. I was at my wits end trying to find an answer to it all. Should I try calling **that** woman or not. I still found myself terrified from the first meeting with her and all the times she had chased me. A small part off me was convinced she was the reason for everything that went wrong in my life, and that small part only grew as time passed.

Around four or five days (my sense of time had been lost) my curiosity finally got the better of me and outweigh my fear. I finally decided to try it.

"Anathea."

I said the (strange, at least to me) name out loud that night and the moment it was out of my mouth my eyelids fell and I was asleep in a matter of seconds. At least that was what I believe happened, I don't know about others but I can never recall the moment I fall asleep. As a consequence I didn't remember calling out a name but concluded that I probably did when I was awake one moment and in the next standing in the same dark misty place I had meet **that** woman before.

"But where is she?" I mused to myself.

The 'place' (if you could call it that) appeared empty.

"Looking for me?" A voice that I only had heard once before spoke up close to my left ear. I spun around and stepped away from the source of the voice on reflex and utterly creeped out.

It was her, I guess I should call her Anathea from now on as it appeared to be her name.

"Who are you?" The question passed my lips before I could stop myself and truthfully, for all my questions I had no idée how to speak them out loud.

"Well, I am most likely Anathea considering that is who you called for." **That** woman replied in a tone that made it clear that she thought it was obvious.

I could not see her face so all I had to go on was her tone of voice and movements, sight now she seemed relaxed with her arms crossed leaning against what I saw as, or did not see, an invisible wall.

Silence filled up the space between us as I tried frantically to put my questions into words. The woman, or Anathea I guess, did nothing to hide her irritation.

"Are you going to ask me something? You were the one to ask for this meeting (in a manner of speaking) and I don't have all the time in the world (actually I do, but let's ignore that)."

I took a deep breath before saying anything.

"Why did that Uchiha woman tell me about you?"

It was not one of the questions I would have set as a priority to get an answer to, but I did want to know the answer all the same.

The woman raised an eyebrow (or I think she did, that was at least the feeling she was giving off) as if she found some entertaining in the question.

"Oh, you mean Hotaru? That's simple, she is the same as you."

Anathea's voice said it in such a light tone that it sounded like she found the answer of minor importance. In the things she had said so far had made her voice go through a range of emotions that made it impossible to pinpoint what kind of person she was (if she was even human).

"What the same as me?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"How do you think?"

Her face grew into a smile and I could swear she grew giddy in the same tempo that I grew agitated.

"Give. Me. An. Answer. Please."

Anathea's smile fell.

"If you want to know you will have to ask Hotaru herself, it is rather personal."

I made a mental note find the Uchiha as soon as possible to get my answers and dismissed the issue. What would I ask next? The questions came more easily from then on, my previous problems formulating them forgotten.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"You asked to talk to me so here I am."

Of course this did not mean getting answers to them got any easier.

"I mean how you even got here when it is between …dimensions, or something."

"I live here."

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"You live here?"

"Yes, I find myself most generous for letting you travel through my front yard so regularly."

"I travel through your front yard?"

"It is one way on seeing it, one day you are Erika then you travel through here and spend some time being Shirushi and so on. "

It was at that I finally came up with a question that I should have treated as priority.

"Are you the reason I live two lives?"

"Yes."

That had been the most straightforward answer I had been given to any of my questions. It took a quarter of a minute for it to sink in before it triggered, what I believed to be, the most spoke question in the world.

"Why?"

Anathea sat down on the floor (if you could call it that as it was nothing there) in a cross-legged position and all of a sudden a tray with two cups of tea appeared out of thin air before her.

"Tea?" she asked.

I stayed silent, waiting for her answer but accepted the cup of tea when it was offered, if only to calm my nerves.

"To be truthful, I let people live double lives out of boredom."

She took a sip of her tea and I mimicked her if only to be polite, I did not yet know what she was and in a world with ninja (忍者) and tailed beasts (尾獣) had at least taught me to be careful. It would be rude to ask and it could resent itself as offending with in turn could turn this into a bad situation, or a worse one.

"Sometimes they live double lives as you do," she gave me a pointed look "or you die and are reborn in another dimension. The later one if the more traditional of the two to be sure."

"Why me?"

"I do not usually pick specific person for a reason, I usually do it on random."

"Usually?"

"You are a special case."

"How so?"

"You will find out when you need to. Now go spend some time with your uncle as Erika."

Her tone was both strict and commanding and with that I promptly found myself waking up as Erika.

"About time you woke. You really should try not to sleep half the day away." I heard my uncles' voice from the door of my room.

'Easy for you to say, you don't have to live a double life with a slave driver for a sensei.'

I climbed my way out of bed and into the kitchen, my mind still focused on my conversation with Anathea.

"Do you feel up to some TP after you have had your late breakfast?"

"Your TP was made in the nineties', all the questions are outdated. I'm too young to know the majority of the questions you know."

I fixed my glare on my uncle in defiance even if my glare as Erika was much less intimidating then my Shirushi glare. And even then, it was no real emotion behind it. Uncle Markus was a real family man, it was a wonder he had not married with kids already. I must have something to do with girls only going for the bad boys' or something, or maybe it was my fault. A nice in her middle twenty's sharing his living space did not increase his chances. He really was too nice in letting me live with him.

"I do not see why you complain about it, you did get that Guy Fawkes question right."

"Of course I did, it was history. History never gets outdated."

'I wonder why she seemed so adamant about me spending more time with uncle.'

**AN: I think this is the hardest chapter I have ever written as of yet. I lost interested for the Naruto series for a bit but got inspired again while catching up with the series. Oh, Obito, why did you have to die? It had me in tears. Now of to read the rest.**

**P.S. I have come to the conclusion that I am the most motivated to write this fic when I am lacking sleep, about four hours sleep on 36 hours and I can barely stay awake, but hey I finished a chapter. **

**Have not found a Beta yet, if anyone is interested PM me please.**


	16. Chapter 16: Curse of the Aburame

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 16: Curse of the Aburame**

It had been two week since my conversation with Anathea, two weeks I had spent as Erika only. Even if this gave me a break from any kind of ninja training I still found myself running around area where I lived with my uncle. I even managed to spare the time (between my job and taking Anatheas advice to spent time with my uncle I found myself with less free time then ever) to catch up with the manga. At least I now knew how the Fourth Shinobi War ended, I even managed to look through some of the fillers (just in case), and episode 168 cracks me up every time.

It was safe to say that when I finally woke up as Shirushi after those two weeks I was rather rested. In one way it was a good thing, at least for my mental state, stress and all that, but in another way it was a bad thing as it only made it worse when I went to train with Guy and Kazuki-sensei.

**/Training ground 4/**

'I guess it was about time I experienced the second Aburame curse, but did it really have to be at a time like this?'

I took a look around the training ground before heaving myself up to a sitting position. There was no point in trying to stand up yet as I had just woken up after passing out from exhaustion.

'Did they honesty not notice?"

I could not help feeling a little betrayed that I had been left in the training ground when I was unconscious. Not even Muta-nii was anywhere to be seen and he was the one that usually picked me up and brought me home.

'I can forgive Muta-nii for this since I do not even know if he has been here but Kazuki-sensei and Guy was there when passed out. They were sparing while I did the tree climbing exercise. I am not forgiving them at the first opportunity I get'

I looked around the training ground again without seeing anyone. It seemed I would be stuck here until I could get home on my own or someone decided to use this training ground for some training and found me.

'Seems all I can do is wait.'

…

"Don't you dare sneak off Shikaku, I will not let you get out of this!"

"Troublesome."

My attention was immediately directed at the sound of the voices came closer and their owners entered my field of vision.

'Well what do you know, if I only go by the looks of those two and ignore there earlier exchange. I would still have figured out they are Shikamaru and Ino's fathers'.'

They look just like them, even if Inoichi had more male features then his future daughter.

'So that is what they looked like as teenagers. Oh, it seems they noticed me.'

"Hey, are you alright?"

Inoichi jogged up to me and looked me over, probably looking for injuries. Shikaku following behind ever so slowly being the epitome of lazy.

"I'm fine. Just exhausted.'

'How is it that I always seems to run into canon characters whenever I least expect it.'

"Do you need to visit the hospital?"

"No."

'If I did that every time I ended up unconscious while training I would have my own reserved room. In retrospect, my training habits can't be healthy. But regardless, time to use this to make some new friends.'

"But I would appreciate if you could help me get to the Aburame compound, please."

I really hoped they would as staying alone on the training ground was boring.

"It would not be too much trouble, what do you say Shikaku?"

"You just keep getting us more chores to do."

Shikaku looked as bored as ever but I could bet my money on that he was exasperated over his friends (teammates?) actions.

"You only complain because you would rather be sleeping." Inoichi muttered under his breath before turning to me get again.

"I take it you are an Aburame then? What's your name?"

"I am Shirushi Aburame. It's nice to meet you."

I replied with small traces of a smile on my face, the only real progress I had made in my smiling lessons with Anko.

"Likewise, I am Inoichi Yamanaka, and he" he gestured to Shikaku " is my teammate Shikaku Nara."

Immediately after he finished the introductions he hoisted me up on his back as it would make the travel go a little faster the letting me try myself (as I was much smaller the Inoichi).

It was as we were leaving the training ground that I spotted someone familiar on the other side of the field.

"Um, Inoichi-san? What were you and Shikaku-san doing visiting training ground 4?"

"Oh… we planned to train, I think."

Inoichi answered, sounding unsure.

"You promised some guy to help him train while his teammates were busy."

Shikaku helpfully supplied in his lazy sounding voice.

"Really? Who?"

Shikaku shrugged.

'Not that suprising of an answer.'

I looked back to the familiar figure back on the training field.

'Sorry Shibi-san, but better you then me at the moment.'

**AN: Not sure if Inoichi and Shikaku is completely OOC for if so I take creative license in that they acted differently when younger. This chapter is mostly filler (inspired by the 'Special' showing the older Ino-Shika-Cho inviting Shibi to a meal and forgetting all about him) but I did not want to jump to Shirushi's meeting with Hotaru directly after meeting Anathe for the first time. So yeah.**

**To Littlebirdd: Yes, she is going to die at some point. Even if I doubt it is in the same way you imagined it. I still haven't settled on a death scene even if I have a lot of ideas.**

**Still no Beta.**


	17. Chapter 17: Tea and popcor

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 17:**

I took a deep breath as I tried to muster up the courage to knock on the door I was standing in front of.

It did not help that I had tried the same method when I had been spacing back and forward in front of the gate leading to the Uchiha district.

This method of gathering courage did not help anymore now then what it did back at the gate. If one of the clansmen that had been standing guard there had not spotted me I doubt I would even have gotten this.

Unfortunaly it had also the effect of making me even more nervous than I had been in the start. The only reason the guard let me in was because one of the clansmen told him she was expecting a visitor from the Aburame clan. Being expected tripled the already heavy load of nerves.

I closed my eyes and tried to pretend to be elsewhere to calm my nerves but all it did was make the stares I got from the Uchiha passing by on the street more intrusive. The darkness behind my eyelids where not much of a difference from what I could see from my standard Aburame shades.

"Are you going to keep standing at my door fantasizing Aburame-chan, or are you going to come in so we can have a nice chat?"

**/Somewhere in between worlds/**

"Damn it, not again."

Anathea looked down on the result of her failed attempt that looked like a pile of black ashes.

"How come I can make someone live a double life in their sleep, but **this **is impossible for me to do."

She took a glance at the picture of Shirushi standing outside a house in the Uchiha district.

"And I really wanted some snack to the show, guess I have to pause it and get some from the store."

_All this for some popcorn._

_/Sometime later/_

"Ah, now on with the show."

I stared at the cup of tea in her hands and was not really sure what to do. Her host sat on the other side of the room happily (and wasn't that weird, seeing an adult Uchiha's happy face) while sipping her own tea.

Neither I nor my host had said anything from the moment Hotaru more or less dragged me through the door and served the tea and the silence were making Shirushi unconfutable even though I seemed to be the only one.

There was so much I still did not know about her situation but I was not sure if Hotaru was the right person to ask for the answers as Anathea seemed to be the one with all the answers (even if said person/being refused to give them to me).

To be honest the main reason I had sought Hotaru out was because Anathea mentioned her and my curiosity over the fact that we had something in common.

"So… I presume you are here because you have spoken to Anathea?"

I was kicked out of my own thoughts by the statement and took it for the invitation to ask my questions which I was sure Hotaru had expected for me to do (considering she apparently had expected me to come here in the first place).

"I did, she said you were the same as me."

Hotaru looked thoughtful.

"She did, huh. Did she tell you in which way?"

"She said it was personal."

Hotaru snorter and shaked her head.

"I swear, she gets all uptight over the most random things. To put it simple, I died and got reborn into this world, same as you…"

She paused:

"…or did you take the double life route?"

"The double life one."

"Then you are at least not stuck here all the time."

Hotaru almost sounded jealous.

"No, but it sometimes feels like I don't sleep at all for days, weeks or even months. It's mentally exhausting.

"Nasty side effect."

And from there we somehow transcended to small talk getting to know each other.

**/Somewhere in between worlds/**

Anathea felt a bit disappointed, she had expected something a little more entertaining.

_Oh well. Better change the channel._

And so she ended up watching a little kid in cow themed clothes playing pranks on paranoid Mafioso.

_I with this show had more episodes._

**AN: This took me long to write, but I had a lot to do in IRL and at bit of a loss as to how Hotaru and Shirushis conversation should go. Even so it ended up pretty short so I put in those small scenes with Anathea to fill it out. **

**I actually share Anathea's inability to make popcorn, lasagna = sure, fancy chicken dish in oven = no problem, but popcorn? Burn them every time. The only thing I burn every time I do it. -_-**

**As for the second Anathea scene. I really need to write a new chapter for my KHR fic.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 18:**

Weeks went by in both of my lives, everything continuing on as normal. Meaning, of course, that I lived and learned.

The time for my graduation from the academy approached far too quickly, leaving me with an odd mix of excitement and trepidation. I knew that as soon as I was outside the walls of the Academy, I would be thrust into the Third Shinobi War.

I believe most of the people I grew up with in my life as Erika would find the saying 'Ignorance is bliss' carried a bit more truth in this world then they could ever hope. Either that, or I was still very naïve after living in a shinobi village for over a decade, not to mention as a member of a shinobi clan, and having known both Anko and Kazuki.

Even though I knew I would experience war first hand, and be expected to kill other human beings, it still seemed so far away, so unreal. I could see bits and pieces of this world's awful reality. I still saw it through rose-tinted glasses, so to speak, and I could not get myself to see past them.

I also found myself struggling with my sense of right and wrong. A lot of what I had thought to be wrong suddenly became acceptable or necessary, like killing for example. I had a very strong opinion of right and wrong as Erika, but that sense of right and wrong would only hinder me as Shirushi.

The thought of what my life as a shinobi would do to my mental health scared me more than anything.

**/with Hotaru/**

"That is a completely normal concern Shirushi."

Hotaru sipped on her tea as I patiently waited on her to say something more.

"That's why I decided to be a civilian."

"Didn't you end up as a civilian because you failed the Academy?"

"I failed on purpose."

Hotaru did not meet my eyes as she started muttering to herself.

"It's one of the reasons why I'm not married either."

"Hotaru…"

It seemed that saying her name aloud snapped her out of her mutterings.

"So, do you have any advice to share?"

"Ask Anathea."

And with that I left, wondering if asking Hotaru for advice was just a waste of time. Honestly, I really held no hope that I would get a helpful piece of advice from Anathea either.

It might also be a good idée to get Hotaru a boyfriend, because she was definitely lonely from what I had seen. Especially as I would claim that her only friend was Anathea. Then again I live here with my only friend being Anko.

At least I have finished my smiling lessons now.

**/with Anathea/**

Anathea had been waiting for me to enter 'the world in-between', as I liked to call it. It was rather obvious that she knew I was coming, and she was strange enough that I did not find it that surprising.

"Let me guess, you already know why I'm here."

I don't really remember a time when I sounded so resigned before, but since the beginning of all this (especially since meeting Anathea), it had become all too normal.

"Of course."

Anathea answered in an overly happy tone accompanied by a large smile.

"So?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

I was speechless.

"How?"

Anathea just smiled and revealed to me what she had been holding in her hand while we had been talking. It was a remote with one single switch.

"If you go insane, I'll just use this and you'll be sane again."

She still had that cheerful smile on her face.

Must…

not…

facepalm.

I give up.

*Facepalm*

**AN: Good news. I finally found a beta for this story. This chapter has been beta read by Shadowwhat. **


	19. Chapter 19: Teammate

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 19: Teammate**

"My name is Takai Takemoto. My likes consist of playing shogi and reading. My dislikes are people that don't think before they act. My dream for the future is to be the one of the best tacticians in the village."

I raised an eyebrow at Takai as he introduced himself. To be honest, I was really expecting to end up with a teammate I had no idée existed before now. Then again maybe that's a little bit too harsh, I recognized him from class, but I had never payed any attention to him before, and now I regret it.

Now that I had heard his introduction, I was even more unsure about how well we could get along then I had been earlier in my musings. One thing, however, was clear to me. He would definitely not get along well with our other teammate, which means I will have the pleasure of being the one to play 'mediator'.

Oh joy.

Takai would, without a doubt, have a hard time fitting in, especially since the rest of us already knew each other. I turned towards my other teammate, who was more or less Takai's opposite. What where the odds that I would end up on the same team as Guy, or have Kazuki as the sensei for my genin team?

"Then we are done here. We will meet at training ground 4 when the sun rises over the treetops." And with that, Kazuki-sensei disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"'When the sun rise over the treetops'? That is a rather vague timeframe." Takai adjusted his glasses in a typical anime style.

"That's Kazuki-sensei for you, He always has a strange track of thought, which makes it difficult to follow his conversations."

"YOSH, Shirushi-chan's right!"

Guy yelled in his usual loud voice. He would probably say even more if he did not spot someone in the distance. With but a wave, he turned and ran off.

It was probably Kakashi, as I could hear him shouting something about his eternal rival.

With Guy gone chasing his friend, and Kazuki-sensei off somewhere else, I turned to Takai.

"So Takai, what do you think about getting to know each other while getting some dango?"

In my life as Erika I would never have made such an offer to someone I just met. But this was my new teammate, there would come a time when I would have to rely on him to not let me get myself killed. Especially since we were at war.

The downside to the offer is that it could be misinterpreted as date. You would be surprised, (or maybe not,) with how ordinary it was for pre-teens to date here, at least for the shinobi part of it.

Takai nodded to my suggestion, but the slight blush he had on his cheeks let me know he was aware that it could be taken as a date.

I'm not sure how I would feel if people started thinking we were dating. Would it count as pedophilia? I was older as Erika, but not as Shirushi.

Not to mention that the teasing from all the people I had come to know until this point would be unbearable. Especially Anko's, I'd rather cross that bridge when I get there, and hopefully that would be a bridge I never have to cross.

In any case, no matter what the consequences are, my current mission was to get to know my teammate.

And it was all I could do to hope he was not as eccentric as everyone else I had gotten to know in my life as Shirushi.

**AN: I had hoped to get this out a bit earlier, but things happened. Not much I can do. I'll try to update once a month, no promises though. **


	20. Chapter 20: Not Shogi, Chess

**Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire**

**Chapter 20: Not Shogi, Chess**

Even after visiting a nearby dango shop and spending time with Takai for at least two hours, I still can't tell if he is eccentric. The only thing that could count as eccentric with him would be his ability to stay calm no matter the situation.

I would even go as far as to say it was unnatural. He didn't even react when Kakashi, followed by Guy, landed right in front of us for a second before taking off again in something I guess was a race.

Well I wouldn't say that seeing them having a race around the village was anything startling or bizarre. What was bizarre about it was that they had been covered in purple feathers, in fact, the only reason I recognized them was because the silver hair and orange leg warmers.

They must have been victims for some prank.

But back to the topic, if those two had not landed just one meter in front of us I would have thought that Takai had not even seen them. He didn't even stop walking or comment on it.

When I asked him about it he just shrugged with the words. "I have seen stranger things."

And here I thought I would have the advantage when it came to strange things courtesy of Anathea, Guy, Kazuki and the rest. So much for that.

All in all, I would say that Takai made for pleasant company, if only because he was something like a calm rock in an ever moving river of activity.

He even tried to teach me how to play Shogi when I told him that I had never played the game. Regrettably, my attempt to learn Shogi ended in failure, as I had a really hard time differentiate between the pieces and kept messing them up.

Luckily, I improvised and turned the Shogi board into a chess board (I might owe the owner a new Shogi board, but they aren't too hard to get your hands on). And then spent some time explaining the rules to Takai.

"This piece," I held up the only piece on the board that I had not vandalized or put away. "is the King. When your King is backed into a corner without escape, you lose."

"So the goal of this game is to corner your opponent and leave no room for escape." Stated Takai.

"Right, the King is also the only piece that can't be captured. The King's movements are limited. He can only move one square at a time."

I put the King back on the board and picked up a piece that I had turned upside down and marked with a 'D' up.

"This is the Queen."

Now it might had made more sense to have marked it with a 'Q', but at the time I had marked them following the Swedish words for them. Queen, as such, was marked 'D' for Drottning.

"The Queen is different from the King, as they can move in whatever direction they please, for however far they want to, as long as nothing is blocking their way."

Takai gave me a nod to show that he was still following my explanation.

"This," I picked up a piece marked with an 'L' for Löpare. "is a Bishop. They can move however far they want diagonally as long as they are not blocked."

I picked up another one that was marked 'S' for Springare. "And this is the Knight. It can move two squares either horizontally or vertically and then one square to the right or left from the direction of the first two squares. It is also the only piece that can jump over other pieces and as such can't be blocked like the others."

That one had been a difficult one to explain so I waited for Takai to ask me to repeat myself, but he just waved at me to continue.

So I picked up the next piece that was marked with a 'T' for Torn. "This piece is a Rook. They move horizontally and vertically, as far as they want unless they are blocked. They also have a special move called castling. Castling allows you to move the King two squares towards one of the Rook's and then let's that Rook jump over the King in one move. This is the only time you can move two pieces in one move, however there are conditions as to when you can use this move. For one, the King and the involved Rook have not been moved earlier in the game. Two, the spaces between the two pieces have to be empty. And lastly, the King cannot be in check, or under threat, before or after the move is performed."

A quick glance at my new teammate (maybe even friend?) confirmed that he understood my explanation.

I picked up the last piece that was marked with a 'B' for Bonde. "This is a Pawn. They are seen as the weakest pieces as they can only move forward and then only one square at a time. The only exception is when they move for the first time, then they can move two squares. However even if they do they can still be captured as if they only moved one in the following move. The pawns can also only capture other pieces my moving diagonally"

I put the piece down and pointed at the board.

"If a pawn manages to reach behind the enemy line, so to speak, they get promoted. That means you get to exchange them with a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight."

I put the pieces in their starting positions on the board.

"Ready to try it out?" I smiled at him, rather confident that I could win even if it had been a long time since I last played chess.

/An hour and a half later/

I did manage to win the first few games but Takai took to the game like a fish to water and I started to be proud of myself every time I got a tie.

We were both completely focused on the game we were playing. And that is the reason I am going to give for not being able to avoid what happened next.

"SHIRUSHI-CHAN~!"

I froze on the spot, there was only one person that called me that.

Unfortunately, I was too shocked to escape and ended up in Aiko's suffocating hug, completely helpless. And just as I thought it couldn't get worse, Aiko noticed the presence of Takai.

"Aww, Shirushi-chan. You never told me you had a boyfriend, and a cute one as well."

**AN: This chapter ended up being mostly an explanation on how to play chess (at least how the pieces move) and I apologize for that. But I needed to make the chapter longer and I plan to make some chess references later in the story, so it might come in handy.**

**Ironically, just hours after I decided to post the un-beated version of this chapter I got the finished version from my beta reader. So here it is, enjoy.**

**And if anyone is interested, here is a glossary for the Swedish words.**

**Kung = King (literal translation)**

**Drottning = Queen (literal translation)**

**Löpare = Bishop (in chess) otherwise Runner (it is also a name for a certain sort of table cloth, you have to love words with multiple meanings)**

**Springare = Knight (as in chess), but also translated as Steed**

**Torn = Rook (in chess) the literal translation is Tower**

**Bonde = Pawn (in chess) the literal translation is Farmer**


	21. Chapter 21: Damage Control Crazy

AN: Hey! I'm back! I finnaly bot oast my writers block, after month of not updating I finnaly managed to write a chapter. :) And sincce I have not update in such a long time I'm posting this unbetad. Just so you don't need to wait any longer.

Shirushi: Aburame extraordinaire Chapter 21: Damage Control: Crazy

I ended up waking up a lot earlier then I had plan the day Kazuki-sensei had set for our genin test. Considering my only clue about when we should meet was 'when the sun rise over the treetops' , I had but my bets to be there at 6:00 in the morning. Unfortunately for me I managed to wake up 4:00 in the morning.

Getting up two hours early was not in my plans for the day but for some reason I found myself unable to to go back to sleep. So as to pas the two hours I had before the test (or to the time I guessed would be the time of the test) I decided to do something productive, so I started a unnecessary long warm up and stretching routine.

Takai and Guy was already at training ground 4 when I arrived. Guy was doing push ups like his life depending on it while Takai was leaning against a tree looking like he would fall asleep at any moment. I wonder how long they had been there waiting. Then again, knowing Guy he probably woke up Takai and dragged him here around the same time I woke up. I should just count myself lucky being a member of the Measurable clan. Otherwise he would probably done the same to me, ah... the advantages of living in a clan compound.

"Good morning, Guy!" I greeted as cheerful as I could.

"A YOUTHFUL MORNING TO YOU, SHIRUSHI-CHAN!"

Guy's greeting made my eardrums tingle and I'm pretty sure it could be heard all the way back to the Aburame clan compound. It probably woke up a lot of people as well, at least it had woken up Takai. He looked a lot like a deer caught in by the lamps of a car (not that he could have understood that comparison himself), with wide eyes looking in a panic around him all the while he tried to keep a distance from Guy.

It seemed Takai had reached his tolerance level against Guy's brand of crazy had ran out. Either that or he had been of in his own thoughts when we saw Guy and Kakashi yesterday and just didn't notice them. From what I saw now, and his reaction to Aiko, it was likely that it was the later.

Poor Takai, with the incident yesterday and what had probably happened this morning he must be traumatized. I just hope he learn how to cope with it or he wont survive long being on the same team as Guy and I suppose me to a lesser degree, not to mention having Kazuki for a sensei. Best to not expose him to the crazy inclined of the team too much now in the beginning. Especially as the hint of smugness he had in the academy and when we first meet seems to have gone up in smoke rather fast.

Let's see if I can do some damage control, it would be best for all three of us if he was at least somewhat sane during the test. I would not have to worry to much about Guy interrupting me either, he was way to busy training kicks against a tree on the other side of the training ground as punishment for not reaching his impossible number of pushups.

"...32...33...34...34. YOSH! If I cant do 2000 kick, I'll do 3000 punches!"

'Yeah, Guy would not be interrupting my damage control efforts at all. I just hope he saves some of that energy for the test.'

"Good morning, Takai. I hope Aiko did not traumatized you too much yesterday" I would have smiled, but I was still practicing "or did Guy traumatized you this morning?" I really wanted to smile a wicked smile right then but that would have just contradicted with my main reason for starting the conversation to begin with.

Takai observed me with a look that could only be described as being filled by suspicion.

"They are both crazy. Our so called teammate jumped in trough my window this morning. Who does that?!" The corner of Takai's left eye twitched.

'Seems like Guy did more damage then I thought. Poor Takai.'

"Actually, I think the jumping trough windows thing is rather normal for shinobi. At least for the ones I know."

"How many crazy people do you know?"

"Let's see. There is Guy," I gestured towards out third teammate. "then there is Kazuki-sesei and his sister Aiko, both of who you met yesterday."

"You mean that lady that suffocated you while asking us if we were dating?" Takai's voice was completely flat as if stating the obvious, which it was.

"Obviously, and if you see her coming please warn me so I have a chance to escape or she will really kill me one of these days."

Takai rolled his eyes and seemed at least a bit amused at my expense. I was just grateful he chose not to bring up the whole 'Aiko thinks we are dating' thing.

"But beside those I guess you could call my friend Anko crazy, but that is more in the sadistic/bloodthirsty kind of way and I know this Uchiha lady that is crazy in the 'I believe in the supernatural' kind of way. At least she is from others point of view."

'I debated a bit with myself in my head about is I should mention Anathea or not since she was connected to my double life. But considering I was certain nobody could kill me in the other world even if the wrong people found out I decided to trow cation to the wind.'

"And lastly, I think the most crazy person I know is this lady called Anathea. I'm not really sure how to describe her brand of crazy though."

Takai looked at me as if he did not believe a single word I said. "How come you have not gone crazy yet?"

I shrugged my shoulders. Anathea had probably a small part in why I had not come insane yet with her magic mambo jumbo. Besides, I was currently living two separate lives at the same time in two different world, one of which was seen as fictional in the other. I have found that it is much easier to accept crazy things if you had already seen/experienced something completely crazy already.

'Not that I can tell him that.'

"I have learned to just accept the craziness at face value. It's the best way to keep yourself sane"

Takai clearly did not believe me and muttered. "Forget I asked, you are crazy as well."

I laughed, which from Takai's expression must have looked considering my inability to smile (I was working on it, I succeed sometimes).

"At least I'm sane enough to acknowledge the craziness of others. Besides it could come in handy."

"I don't see how it could be useful."

"Well... you could use them in genjutsu to drive your enemies insane with our craziness."

Takai consider the idea before admitting it was an interesting idea. The next thing I know he is scribbling notes in the ground and completely ignoring me.

At least he is more focused now, so there would hopefully not be any problems during Kazuki-sensei's test.  
"I wonder when Kazuki-sensi will get here."

I heard my hive buzz in warning as the picked up another presence i the training ground. As I quickly turn my attention toward the presence I notice that Guy had stopped counting his kicks.

'Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear.'


End file.
